Blodget: Nate Silver has bet the farm

11/5/12 10:24 AM EST

Henry Blodget, editor and CEO of Business Insider argues that if Mitt Romney wins the election, The New York Times' election statistician Nate Silver "will take a severe hit":

Unlike the vast majority of prognosticators and pundits, Silver has the balls to back up his model with his wallet and mouth. For the past couple of weeks, Silver has been extremely outspoken in defending himself, even going so far as to challenge pundit Joe Scarborough to a bet. This vocal defense has garnered huge publicity: Searches for Silver's name on Google have soared.

What that means is that Silver has, effectively, bet the farm.

If Obama wins relatively easily, as Silver's model is now predicting, Silver's reputation will become gold-plated, and the traditional pundits who are calling the election a "toss-up" will look like clueless mealy-mouthed wimps.

If Romney wins, however, Silver's reputation will go "poof."

The day before the election, Silver gives President Obama an 86.3% chance of winning, and anticipates he will win 307 electoral votes.